Progress 07/16/02 to 07/16/07
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Research Work Unit SRS-4803 was terminated on 9/30/2007, at which time it was merged into Research Work Unit SRS-4854 (The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center) as the Forest Health Monitoring Research Team. Work on this problem continues as part of the research assigned to SRS-4854. The major output for this research problem during the 5-year life of SRS-4803 is the development of an automated technique to quantify forest fragmentation from satellite imagery, and the subsequent analysis of this indicator at the regional, national, and international scales. The ultimate objective is to harmonize global assessments of forest spatial patterns (fragmentation, etc.). PARTICIPANTS: Investigators include: Coulston, John W. Riitters, Kurt J. Partner organizations: North Carolina State University (contact: Fred Cubbage (fred_cubbage@ncsu.edu)) H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and Environment (contact: Robin O'Malley, Senior Fellow) Environmental Protection Agency (contact: Jim Wickham,) European Union Joint Research Center (contact: Peter Vogt) University of Lecce, Lecce Italy (contact: Prof. G. Zurlini) TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audience is government and university researchers in the natural sciences; natural resources policy makers and managers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The fragmentation research has spawned numerous scientific publications and set the international standard for measuring and analyzing forest fragmentation. This research has developed a new mathematical morphological approaches to forest land-cover assessments, identified a core set of land-cover pattern measurements for implemention in USFS and EU forest assessments, implemented those protocols for USFS RPA Assessments, and vastly improved the Nation's ability to monitor and assess changing forest spatial patterns as they relate to impacts on biodiversity, water quality, and other ecological endpoints that society values as forest outputs. It has also led to important collaborations with non-governmental (H. John Heinz III Center) and international organizations (European Union Joint Research Center), which have worked to standardize the analysis and reporting of landscape pattern indicators.
Publications
- Schimel, D.; Hargrove, W.W.; Hoffman, F.M.; MacMahon, J. 2007. NEON: A hierarchically designed national ecological network. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 5(2): 59.
- Sundareshwar, P.V.; Murtugudde, R.; Srinivasan, G.; [and others]. 2007. Environmental monitoring network for India. Science (Policy Forum). 316: 204-205.
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Progress 10/01/04 to 09/30/05
Outputs
The U. S. government has adopted the Montreal Process framework for strategic forest planning and national assessments for sustainability, with seven criteria and 67 indicators. One of these indicators is fragmentation of forest types. Research conducted in this problem area is designed to improve the Nation's ability to monitor and assess changing forest spatial patterns as they relate to impacts on biodiversity, water quality, and other ecological endpoints that society values as forest outputs. Publications 1-4 below represent the result of these efforts in FY05. While the basic and applied research has been successful in terms of publications and so forth, it is also important that national reports prepared by the US Government are harmonized with or at least comparable to siliar reports prepared by non-governmental and global organizations. Otherwise, there is no common ground for discussion, and sometimes this results in needless friction between the public and
private sectors. As part of the Units mandate to serve reporting needs outside the Agency, Kurt Riitters has been serving as an expert member of the Landscape Pattern Task Group, a component of the H. John Heinz III Centers efforts to produce five-year reports entitled The State of theNation's Ecosystems. During the past year, the Task Group considered the suite of landscape pattern indicators that will be implemented in the 2007 Report by the Heinz Center.
Impacts
Through serving on the Heinz Center Task Group, Kurt was able to inform the Group of the USFS national protocols which are used for reporting under the domestic USDA Forest Service RPA program, and demonstrate that the protocols used by the Federal Government are also suitable for non-governmental reporting by the Heinz Center. As a result of this interaction, Kurt was able to successfully volunteer (with the concurrence of the USFS Staff Director of SPII) to provide the needed forest statistics for the 2007 State of the Nation's Ecosystem Report. This is important because it means that forest health monitoring statistics produced by the US Forest Service will be used in this important and highly visible NGO report. The alternative would be to have other protocols developed and used, which would result in additional effort on the part of the US Government to reconcile any differences with NGO reporting. In summary, by serving on expert Task Groups, performing prototype
testing, and agreeing to produce forest statistics, the research performed in this problem area is finding direct application in reports prepared outside of the US other countries that are part of the Montreal Process, with the European Union Joint Research Center which is responsible for European reporting of forest spatial patterns, and with other US Federal Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.
Publications
- Riitters, K,. Wickham, J. and Coulston, J. 2004. Use of road maps in national assessments of forest fragmentation in the United States. Ecology and Society 9(2): 13. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyand society.org/vol9/iss2/art13/
- Riitters, K. H., and Coulston, J. W. 2005. Hotspots of perforated forest in the eastern United States. Environmental Management 35: 483-492.
- Zaccarelli, N., Zurlini, G., Riitters, K. H., Petrosillo, I., and Dadamoa, M. 2004. Profili di propagazione multiscalare dell ecological change in relazione alle attivita antropiche. (Multi-scale disturbance profiles for ecological change in relation to human activity). Proceeding of the 14th Meeting of the Italian Society of Ecology, 4-6 October 2004, Siena, Italy. [online] http://www.xivcongresso.societaitalianaecologia.org/articles/
- Wear, D., Pye, J, and Riitters, K. 2004 Defining conservation priorities using fragmentation forecasts. Ecology and Society 9(5):4. [online] URL:http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss5/art4
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Progress 10/01/03 to 09/30/04
Outputs
The United States government has adopted the Montreal Process framework for strategic forest planning and national assessments of forest sustainability, with seven criteria and 67 indicators. One Montreal Process criterion is 'conservation of biodiversity,' and 'fragmentation of forest types' is one indicator within that criterion. Through problem 3 of RWU-4803, we provide national analyses and assessments of forestland fragmentation for use in Forest Service and International planning and policy arenas. In FY04, Riitters published new methods on how to localize national fragmentation statistics. Riitters also produced and published two separate national assessments of forestland fragmentation, one for the US 2003 Report on Sustainable Forests (part of the Montreal Process) and one to demonstrate an alternate approach at national scale. In addition, Riitters contributed national fragmentation statistics to the H.J. Heinz Center's 'Environmental Report Card' which was
published in book form this year. All of the results and maps generated by this research have been made available to other researchers and the public via the SRS web site. What do we know now that we didn't know before? The work represents a cutting edge achievement because it is the first time that anyone has successfully conducted an analysis of forest fragmentation at national scale with such high-resolution land cover maps. This is also the first time anyone has developed methods to localize national forest fragmentation statistics by forest type. The research databases are continuing to be used by several agencies to facilitate environmental work. What are the practical applications of this new knowledge? Part of this work has involved design to process data in an extremely efficient fashion. If national fragmentation statistics can be easily localized then it may be possible to easily develop hierarchical applications to assess fragmentation at multiple spatial scales. Who will
benefit from this new knowledge, and how? The primary focus of the FY04 effort continues to be on modeling tools for technology transfer and providing information to others for assessment purposes. Further research is underway to enhance our abilities to measure and assess forestland fragmentation and other landcover patterns globally, nationally, and locally. Riitters has been cooperating with EPA scientists for several years on water quality issues and analyses and has co-authored several papers in FY04 as a result of that effort. Developing modeling applications with France and Italy may provide international standards for comparison of multi-national fragmentation statistics.
Impacts
. Developing modeling applications with France and Italy may provide international standards for comparison of multi-national fragmentation statistics.
Publications
- Coblentz, d.d.; Riitters, K.H. 2004. Topographic controls on the regional scale biodiversity of the south-western us. Journal of Biogeography. 31: 1125-1138.
- Coulston, J.W.; Riitters, K.H.; Smith, G.C. 2004. A preliminary assessment of montreal process indicators of air pollution for the united states. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 95: 57-74.
- Riitters, K.H. 2003. Fragmentation assessments for the us 2003 report on sustainable forest. european union joint research center. Ispra, Italy: p.
- Riitters, K.H. 2003. Fragmentation with and without roads. hj heinz center for science, sconomics, and the environment. Washington, DC: p.
- Riitters, K.H. 2003. Landscape pattern types for assessing spatial pattern. hj heinz center for science, economics, and the environment. Washington,DC: p.
- Riitters, K.H. 2004. A review of us national assessments of forest fragmentation. Buffalo, NY:
- Riitters, K.H.; Wickham, J.D.; Coulston, J.W. 2004. A preliminary assessment of montreal process indicators of forest fragmentation for the united states. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 91: 257-276.
- Wade, T.G.; Riitters, K.H.; Wickham, J.D.; Jones, K.B. 2004. Distribution and causes of global forest fragmentation. Conservation Ecology. 7(2): 7.
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Progress 10/01/02 to 09/30/03
Outputs
The United States government has adopted the Montreal Process framework for strategic forest planning and national assessments of forest sustainability, with seven criteria and 67 indicators. One Montreal Process criterion is 'conservation of biodiversity,' and 'fragmentation of forest types' is one indicator within that criterion. Through problem 3 of RWU-4803, we provide national analyses and assessments of forestland fragmentation for use in Forest Service and International planning and policy arenas. In FY03, Riitters published new methods on how to localize national fragmentation statistics. Riitters also produced and published two separate national assessments of forestland fragmentation, one for the US 2003 Report on Sustainable Forests (part of the Montreal Process) and one to demonstrate an alternate approach at national scale. In addition, Riitters contributed national fragmentation statistics to the H.J. Heinz Center's 'Environmental Report Card' which was
published in book form this year. All of the results and maps generated by this research have been made available to other researchers and the public via the SRS web site. What do we know now that we didn't know before? The work represents a cutting edge achievement because it is the first time that anyone has successfully conducted an analysis of forest fragmentation at national scale with such high-resolution land cover maps. This is also the first time anyone has developed methods to localize national forest fragmentation statistics by forest type. The research databases are continuing to be used by several agencies to facilitate environmental work. What are the practical applications of this new knowledge? Part of this work has involved design to process data in an extremely efficient fashion. If national fragmentation statistics can be easily localized then it may be possible to easily develop hierarchical applications to assess fragmentation at multiple spatial scales. Who will
benefit from this new knowledge, and how? The primary focus of the FY03 effort continues to be on modeling tools for technology transfer and providing information to others for assessment purposes. Further research is underway to enhance our abilities to measure and assess forestland fragmentation and other landcover patterns globally, nationally, and locally. Riitters has been cooperating with EPA scientists for several years on water quality issues and analyses and has co-authored several papers in FY03 as a result of that effort. Developing modeling applications with France and Italy may provide international standards for comparison of multi-national fragmentation statistics.
Impacts
. Developing modeling applications with France and Italy may provide international standards for comparison of multi-national fragmentation statistics.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 10/01/01 to 09/30/02
Outputs
This research cross cuts with the International Forestry, and the Human-Forest Interactions research themes. The United States government has adopted the Montrial Process framework for strategic forest planning and national assessments of forest sustainability. Seven criteria and 67 indicators address environmental and socio-economic values that forests provide, and the policies and institutions that enable efforts to achieve them. One Montrial Process criterion is 'conservation of biodiversity,' and 'fragmentation of forest types' is one indicator within that criterion. Through problem 3 of RWU-4803, we provide national analyses and assessments of forestland fragmentation for use in Forest Service and International planning and policy arenas.In FY02, Riitters completed two separate national assessments of forestland fragmentation, one for the US 2003 Report on Sustainable Forests (part of the Montreal Process) and one to demonstrate an alternate approach at national
scale. In addition, Riitters contributed national fragmentation statistics to the H.J. Heinz Center's Environmental Report Card which will be published in book form later this year. All of the research and subsequent applications are based on national land-cover maps derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery for the U.S. and all of the results and maps generated by this research have been made available to other researchers and the public via the SRS web site.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- Jones, K. Bruce; Neale, Anne C.; Wade, Timothy G. [and others]. 2002. The consequences of landscape change on ecological resources: an assessment of the United States mid-Atlantic region, 1973-1993. Ecosystem Health. 7(4): 229-242.
- Wickham, James D.; O'Neill, Robert V.; Riitters, Kurt H. [and others]. 2002. Geographic targeting of increases in nutrient export due to future urbanization. Ecological Applications. 12(1): 93-106.
- Wickham, James D.; Riitters, Kurt H.; O'Neill, Robert V. [and others]. 2001. Land cover as a framework for assessing the risk of water pollution. Water Resources Journal. September 2001: 39-46.
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